Ad revenue up 29% year-on-year in 2016 Q1

LinkedIn, has enjoyed a sensational start to 2016, with net ad revenue soaring to $154.1 million.

The boost for the business-centric social network’s ad service, ‘Marketing Solutions’, can be attributed largely to a change of focus from banner ads, in favour of sponsored content. 56% of LinkedIn’s ad revenue – worth $86.3 million – is now earned through sponsored content. That’s a yearly increase of around 80%. Meanwhile, the site’s display ad revenue fell by 30% over the same period, to a figure in the region of $15.4 million.

Action it!

Display advertising through LinkedIn still has its place, but this boom in sponsored content revenue is more than just a signal of LinkedIn’s commercial strategy – it’s a reflection of advertisers’ preferences, which points to a growing superiority.

Sponsored content can be valuable in and of itself to the user; banner ads can be perceived as spammy distractions. Sponsored posts are compatible with mobile; banner ads are not.

If LinkedIn is one of your advertising channels, now would be the time to focus on sponsored posts. The best examples wed graphics with copy – especially in an infographic format. Undiluted sales messages have a tendency to fare worse than content that offers immediate, useful information to the reader, free-of-charge.

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